Foster and Rogers LLC

Foster & Rogers LLC

Fairbanks, Alaska

Firm

Foster & Rogers LLC

Practice Area

Divorce and Dissolution

Number of Attorneys

2

Year Established

2006

Clients Using Portal

85%

Hours Saved Per Week

35-40

We had the opportunity to interview Curt Rogers, Office Manager at Foster & Rogers, LLC. He gave us a bit of backstory about the firm, the partners, and how MyCase fits into their practice management philosophy.

A Bit of Backstory

"My wife, Margaret Rogers, and Danielle Foster met in law school and became friends. Margaret came up here (to Alaska) in 2001 on a one-year clerkship. We met and she extended her clerkship. After clerking she joined a civil litigation firm and, later, a family law firm. Danielle came to Fairbanks in 2003 to work in the District Attorney's office. After some twists and turns they opened the firm together in 2007. They have worked ceaselessly to make this firm one of the most respected family law practices in the state," Curt explained.

When Curt came onboard in 2016, the need for a more efficient billing and management tool was expressed to him by the partners. "We already had a strong, vital and successful firm, but Margaret and Danielle felt we could be better... more efficient". So, Foster & Rogers started the search for a practice management software and chose MyCase.

A Client Focused Approach

When clients hire an attorney, they are often confused, scared, and usually dealing with a stressful life situation. They're facing uncertainties, like: How much will I end up paying? How will I know what's going on with my case? Can I trust this attorney?

To combat these uncertainties, Foster & Rogers has been putting their clients first since the firm's inception, and their approach has served them well. When we asked how MyCase has come alongside the firm and supported that client centric approach, Curt said, "Margaret and Danielle really appreciate that our staff can serve clients better and more effectively by having a more efficient client communication tool. We were already communicating well with our clients, but this tool has taken it to the next level. When you get into MyCase, unlike managing through email, everything pertains to the client. The client portal allows us to involve clients with their case effortlessly. If they're stressed and they wake up at 2:30 am with a question, they can log in and see what's going on. They can see what their attorneys are doing. Nothing is sprung on them at the end of the month, and this has made our clients really happy."

In addition to using a practice management tool that could benefits the firm's clients, Curt really needed a system that would streamline the firm's billing. After the bills are made, they are sent out through the secure client portal for payment. Clients can pay anywhere, anytime. Curt says, "The online payment option has helped our clients tremendously. We send our bills out on Monday and our clients respond almost immediately."

Firm

Foster & Rogers LLC

Practice Area

Divorce and Dissolution

Number of Attorneys

2

Year Established

2006

Clients Using Portal

85%

Hours Saved Per Week

35-40

Online payments has been a major benefit of MyCase. We send our bills out on Monday and our clients respond almost immediately.

– Curt Rogers

Benefits

We asked Curt about his favorite MyCase features, and about how MyCase has improved the way the firm does business, including saving the firm thousands per year in billing time by streamlining tasks and improving efficiency.

How are MyCase features like the integrated billing, invoicing, and online payments impacting the firm?

I bet we're saving 40 hours a week by billing through MyCase. I used to take extensive time out of my week to do billing. I spent a lot of time at home on a remote link entering billing. That process has been completely streamlined. Now, it takes me less than an hour weekly to get bills out of the way.

The ability to make online payments has been a real convenience for clients and a positive for our firm. Before setting up the ability for clients to pay online, I didn't know how successful we were going to be with it. I didn't know if our client base would respond favorably. As turns out it has been a real benefit. Now that we are using it, we're working on increasing the amount of clients who pay online. We'd like it to be a significant percentage. It's helping our real-time cash flow because in some cases, especially for our out-of-state clients, we get payments we may not have seen right away. It is all about client interactivity. By using the client portal, we get them real time information and they pay us in real time.

MyCase's Customer Support is absolutely amazing.

– Curt Rogers

Besides the features you've already mentioned, what do you love about MyCase?

One of the other outstanding features of MyCase is its Customer Support. I can talk to someone immediately, and it seems like all the representatives have experience in my field. I never have to explain what a retainer is or what I'm trying to do in the software. I have a relationship with everyone there. That is invaluable for someone learning the software.

What's next for Foster & Rogers?

The need for an effective website was one of the priorities given to me when I was hired. MyCase made time for me to get to that priority.

The partners know that having a website is essential and there were some issues with the company we used before. A good website will help you establish a comfort level with potential clients and help get people in the door for consults, so that's what we're looking at next. Curt didn't have to look far when deciding on a company to build a website. MyCase offered their services and we took them up on it. We already trusted them and their work, so it just made sense.